In a traditional lean manufacturing environment, a kanban card system (e.g., a physical card) is used as a means to control the production flow on a manufacturing floor. The kanban card system is typically referred to as a pull signal, because the kanban card is attached to a container of parts which travels around the manufacturing floor. When the container is empty, the empty container and the kanban card arrive back at a production resource to refill the container, as component supplies and manufacturing capacity permit.
In an effort to overcome the above-discussed deficiencies, a manufacturing entity is required to hold higher or excessive inventories. However, increasing inventory without a forward looking mechanism is unresponsive to real-time demand. In addition, because the kanban card system is backward looking a manufacturing entity is inherently exposed to constraints and bottlenecks on the manufacturing floor. This inability to provide a forward looking production control mechanism is undesirable.